June 26, 2014: Japan hanged a man, in the nation's first execution in 2014, and the ninth since the conservative government of Shinzo Abe came to power in December 2012.
Masanori Kawasaki, 68, was convicted of stabbing three people to death – including a three-year-old girl – as they slept, after breaking into their house in Kagawa in 2007.
"It was an extremely cruel case," Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told reporters. "I ordered the execution after prudent consideration," he said.
Japan now has 129 inmates on death row, according to local media. (Sources: AFP, 26/06/2014)